Luke 8:7

Luke 8:7, in plain English

Some seed fell among thorns that grew up alongside it and choked it out. When competing priorities crowd your life, even good things can get strangled.

Why it's here

Jesus paints a picture many of us know well: you start something good, but life's distractions slowly squeeze it out. The thorns do not kill the plant instantly; they suffocate it over time.

Who's speaking

Jesus describes the third kind of soil in His farming parable.

Where it sits in the story

Seeds land in soil infested with thorns. The plants try to grow but the thorns grow faster, wrapping around them and choking the life right out of them.

The scholarly reading

Seed among akanthōn (thorns) grows symphueisai ('together with') the competing vegetation, which apepnixan ('choked') the seedlings. The prefix sym- emphasizes simultaneous growth, suggesting the thorns were already present in the soil.

Language and setting

The third soil type represents divided hearts where competing priorities strangle spiritual growth. The thorns grow alongside the good seed, indicating that the threat comes not from outside but from within the same ground.

Voice

Jesus continues narrating the parable to the gathered crowd.

Significance

Other seeds land in soil already harboring thorn roots. Both grow together, but the aggressive thorns overpower and suffocate the good plants before they can bear any fruit.

5“A farmer went out to sow his seed. And as he was sowing, some seed fell along the path, where it was trampled, and the birds of the air devoured it.

6Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the seedlings withered because they had no moisture.

7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the seedlings.

8Still other seed fell on good soil, where it sprang up and produced a crop—a hundredfold.”

9Then His disciples asked Him what this parable meant.

Read all of Luke 8 — A storm, a legion of demons, a bleeding woman, and a dead girl — Jesus moves through a world of chaos and brings order with a word or a touch.